Padres may stink, but they’re still putting fans in Petco seats

Padres on TV

Average TV rating and attendance for each season since Channel 4 San Diego began televising Padres games (from 1997-2003, Sunday games were carried on KUSI Channel 9/51).

Year / Rating / Att.

1997 / 6.0 / 25,794

1998 / 9.0 / 31,554

1999 / 7.8 / 31,155

2000 / 5.5 / 29,915

2001 / 6.6 / 29,359

2002 / 4.8 / 27,415

2003 / 4.1 / 25,025

2004 / 6.4 / 37,244

2005 / 6.6 / 35,429

2006 / 6.4 / 32.837

2007 / 7.0 / 34,446

2008 / 4.2 / 29,970

2009 / 3.8 / 23,736

2010 / 5.5 / 26,318

2011 / 3.4 / 25,594

Note: Attendance figures are for tickets sold. Actual attendance is not announced. Padres played at Qualcomm Stadium until 2003 before Petco Park opened.

Despite the fall, it seems the Padres are semi-popular in person. Because of the fall, they are unpopular in living rooms. That’s San Diego. We seem to have our minds made up that we can’t make up our minds.

OK. Including Wednesday afternoon’s game vs. the Mets at PNP (Petco National Park), their 62nd home game of the season, the Padres have drawn 1,586,825 fans. That’s about 50,000 more than they drew a year ago at this time, when they were leading the National League West and on their way to 90 wins. They have been hopelessly out of this race for many weeks.

But, on the other end, their raggedy season shows up with the TV audience, where Channel 4 San Diego’s average rating stands at 3.4 (each point equals just under 11,000 homes). It’s the lowest since Channel 4 first got the rights in 1997, down from 5.5 a year ago, miles beneath the all-time high of 9.0 in 1998, the World Series season.

Meanwhile, Channel 4, not available to everyone around here, will watch its deal with the Padres expire at season’s end (Fox is thought to be the leader in the clubhouse, but no one’s saying).

“We’re still in discussions,” club CEO Jeff Moorad says.

This season’s attendance figures probably are a byproduct of last season’s success, and people purchased 2011 season tickets knowing they would get playoff priority in 2010. Next year will give us a more accurate portrait, but, fact is, overall attendance and ratings are down from 2007. There should be some cause for concern.

“We need to create more of a presence in our market,” Padres President Tom Garfinkel says. “There’s 75 years of baseball history in this town. Padres fan are knowledgeable and passionate — we just need more of them.”

This is a good baseball town. The novelty of PNP may have worn off some, and this team hasn’t been exciting (last year’s wasn’t, either; it just won), but there are hard-core Padres and baseball fans who just like to go to games, and PNP is a great setting in a bustling area. There are far worse places to be.

Some folks feel more excitement would be generated if the park’s fences were moved in to counter the dreaded marine layer, the home run killer. But that isn’t on the menu, and I don’t know that it should be. I saw Cameron Maybin hit one into the second deck Tuesday night. It’s possible — if you make contact.

“There are no plans to move in the fences at this time,” Garfinkel says. “Many things are discussed, and that’s one of them, but we’re not going to give the advantage to the other team; we want the advantage.”

Thing is, the ratings may reflect the loss of the casual fans and the bandwagoners who hop aboard when the road is less bumpy. These are the folks the Padres must get back, at least on TV.

“Ratings ebb and flow,” Moorad says. “Sometimes they depend on how the team’s performing on the field. But we have not heard a word about ratings; not a single group of those interested in our next broadcasting (rights) has raised the subject.

“I’m not personally concerned about ratings. I’m focused on support at the ballpark, which has been consistent.”

I’m fine with the Padres’ philosophy, which is to build from within and not go nuts in free agency, which doesn’t always work, anyway. Moorad & Co. just poured $11 million in bonus money into their 2011 draft — $8.952 million to five of the first 82 picks into the crapshoot lottery. If nothing else, this is commitment overriding lip service.

“What I’ve learned about San Diego is that people want to be talked to straight and direct,” Moorad says. “They want to understand what our plan is and have it explained to them.

“We have a plan here, and it’s all about scouting and player development, and these signings are indicative of building an organization the right way. I’m not into one-year fixes. I’m committed to building a foundation that will stand the test of time.”

It doesn’t help when fans see local products such as Adrian Gonzalez jump off for big-market greenery. It tells them that, even if the Moorad Plan works, and the young players develop, they’re going to leave once they get too good for the Padres’ coin purse.

“We plan to chase our players, if it makes sense,” Moorad says. “In certain cases, where Jed (GM Jed Hoyer) and baseball operations people believe a particular player or two can make sense as foundation pieces, we’ll step up and secure their services. But we wouldn’t be open to locking players in beyond our six years of control without securing free agent years as part of the package.”

That’s a step above the foundation. But it will be interesting to see how things go at the box office and on the tube in 2012.

If nothing else, the Padres are a unique franchise. Even when they stink, some of our noses don’t pick up the scent or we put clothespins on them.